Skates
by TheRealKira
Summary: (Title and rating subject to change) Francis Bonnefoy is a figure skater from France, Matthew Williams is a hockey player from Canada. Through chance, they meet at a skating rink in the Olympics training area and instantly fell in love.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **I'm about to do something I utterly hate because I'm aiming for this story to be three longer chapters and I want you guys to read both Francis' and Mathew's thoughts on things. (P.S, there will be more brief notes at the end explaining things, but you can just skip them :p)

_**Francis**_

Francis looked around in excitement, after spending his whole life training, he was finally here! His dreams were finally able to become a reality and he knew he wouldn't let anyone down, he was, of course, the best male figure skater in all of France, how else would he have been able to get into the Olympics?

It had been a hard life for Francis Bonnefoy, his parents had always wanted a girl, someone to follow in Mrs. Bonnefoy's footsteps and bring home the gold for France. But, when Francis' mother had fallen deathly ill not long after his birth, the Bonnefoy family was certain that their dreams would never come true. But, to their surprise, young Francis, no more than three years of age, had fallen in love with the thought of figure skating. He wanted to be one of the people skating around in beautiful costumes, representing his country just like his mother had. So he had to train. By the time he was five, he was the fastest skater in his skating class, by the time he was seven, he had already won a few competitions, and by the time he was twelve, all of Paris knew he was going pro.

Shortly before he tried out to get into the Olympics, many people asked if they could be his partner. Mixed figure skating was much more popular than men's, and everyone knew that, but Francis politely refused. His mother hadn't done mixed, and he wasn't going to either.

The rink was huge, much bigger than any he had seen back home, but it made him a bit sad seeing it. Out of instinct, his hand drifted to a pendent his mother had given him two years ago, just before she died. "I promise I'll bring home the gold for you, mother." he whispered to himself.

Francis sat in the stands and watched the Canadian hockey team skate onto the ice for practice. He had never seen hockey before, he was taught the game was barbaric, a game made for lesser life forms than himself, but for some reason, he stayed to watch anyways.

There was enough of them to split up into two teams, so they played a game against each other. There wasn't as much fighting as he'd been told in the past, but he had expected it was because they were team mates, and probably because they were Canadian as well, Canadians were always tame.

Matthew

"Listen up guys, We need to show the world that hockey is our sport! We know it, and we need to bring home the gold again! We won four years ago, but if it wasn't for that goal in the last eleven seconds, we probably would have brought home a silver. That's not going to happen again this year! We're not on home turf anymore, so let's kick some ass!" The team captain had yelled. Cheers were heard throughout the locker room from most of the players, although quiet Matthew Williams said nothing as he finished tying up his skate.

Matthew's dream had never been to come to the Olympics. He didn't even want to play hockey much. Sure, he liked it, but there were many things he'd prefer to do than skate around hitting a , he wanted his dad to be proud of him, and as far as he knew, this was the only way that that would ever happen.

Two years ago, Matthew had brought home his boyfriend, someone he had loved with all of his heart, and had wanted to introduce to his family. "This is Carlos," he had told his parents. "And, um, he's going to be my prom date. We've been dating for about a year now..and, and I just thought it was time I told you." his cheeks had flushed a bright pink, and his gaze fell to the floor.

At first, his mom just laughed, as if it was some cute joke. "Oh, honey, you're only in grade eleven, why would you go to prom this year?"

"Carlos is a year older than him, remember, Sarah?" Matthew's dad replied.

"Oh, so you're just going as friends then?" Sarah had asked

Carlos smiled at them "No, no, he's my date for the evening, but don't worry, I promise to take good care of your son, and I'll get him back home by midnight."

"WHAT!" Mr. Williams had exclaimed "NO WAY IN HELL IS MY SON GOING TO BE SOME FAGGOT!"

Mrs. Williams wasn't opposed to what her husband had said "What are you talking about, Matthew? Is this some form of sick joke? You can't be one of them it's unnatural, how are you supposed to provide us with grand children if you're a...you know."

"I told you they'd get mad." Matthew whispered to his boyfriend

Carlos shrugged "There's not much you can do to change their views though. We might as well just go, and have a good time."

"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE THIS HOUSE MATTHEW MAPLE WILLIAMS! YOU ARE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU'RE EIGHTEEN!"

It had been rough for Matthew, after that. He switched schools, and was banned from seeing or speaking to Carlos. He was only allowed out of the house when his mother or father was with him, and all internet usage was monitored highly. Carlos still tried to see Matthew as much as he could, but it was hard. They managed to speak via Carlos' fake facebook account under the name "Carly" but when they managed to see each other in person it was only for a handful of minutes. by the time Matthew had turned seventeen, Carlos and him had stopped speaking entirely, and so had Matthew's father.

He started pouring himself into hockey, just to make his dad love him again. Matthew practiced night and day until he was the best player on his team. When he tried out for a smaller league, he got a spot right away, and was soon invited to play on the town's main hockey team. By the time he had turned eighteen he was a hockey star. His father still didn't pay any attention to him though, so Matthew knew there was only one thing to do.

Everyone knew he was going to be accepted before he was. Matthew was an amazing player, he managed to get a hat trick almost every game that he played. if they wanted him to play goal, he could block a puck no matter who came at him, and he was very fast on ice.

When the letter of acceptance came in, Matthew was ecstatic! It had been almost two years since his dad last said anything to him, so Matthew wasn't sure what to expect when he told his father.

Mr. Williams just smiled faintly "Bring home the gold, son."

After the game, Matthew was completely out of breath, unlike the other members of his team, he treated their practice run like a real game. He didn't go easy on the goalie, he slammed other players into the boards, and he continued to skate around with more speed than anyone else on the team. Except, no one else treated it like a real game. The goalie, knowing what Matthew was capable of, cowered away every time Matthew hit it at him, and none of the players fought back. It wasn't as much fun as he thought it would have been, but he didn't mind much.

Someone announced that the figure skaters could use that arena to practice, so Matthew stayed and watched. He had always thought the figure skaters looked beautiful as they spun around, doing tricks with permission Matthew wished he had. But to his surprise, only a lone blonde French man entered the rink. "Bonjour mon amour." the French man said with a wink.

Matthew could feel himself getting flustered. "Euh ... bonjour, je suis désolé mon français est un peu rouillé. Parlez-vous anglais? " Matthew asked in perfect French.

"Oui, may I introduce myself, I'm Francis Bonnefoy, I will be in mens figure skating, and may I ask who you are, beau?"

"I'm Matthew Williams, and, um, I'm in men's hockey. It's nice to meet you, Francis."

"Non, non, non, the pleasure is all mine, monsieur. Now, if you do excuse me, I should practice my skating, but if you'd like to stay here, we can talk some more after practice."

Matthew nodded "That's a great idea."

**A/N:** Matthew is from Kelowna BC in this story, and, as stated, Fancis is from Paris France. I put Matthew in Kelowna because I know a lot about Kelowna having lived here all my life, as well as I got the idea whilke at my volunteer job. I hate sports, and I don't watch the olympics, but everything I know about hockey is known because I volunteer at a hockey arena. If I've made any mistakes about figure skating please tell me. Thank you

French courtasy of Google translate.:

-Bonjour mon amour: Hello, my love.

-Euh ... bonjour, je suis désolé mon français est un peu rouillé. Parlez-vous anglais?: Um...Hello, I'm sorry my French is a bit rusty, do you speak English?

-beau: beautiful


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ Sorry about the wait, guys, I was really unsure about posting this chapter because of something I wanted to include from Francis' childhood. I feel like Imay get a lot of hate for it, but, I just want to remind you that there's a lot of small things hidden in my stories that are based on actual events that happened to people close to me. (On htat note, if an event is based on something that happened to someone I always ask before writing it into my stories)

_**Francis**_

"What made you want to try out, Francis?" Matthew asked as the two of them sat in a Russian cafe not to far away from where the two were staying.

Francis sighed over dramatically. "Oh, Matthew, mon amour, it was a horrid twist of fate that brought me here. You see, my mother was a champianship figure skater, although I never saw it myself, my mother told me on many occasions that she brought home the gold for France back in 1992." Francis smiled softly as he spoke. "But she also brought something else back. She fell in love with a man whom she met during the olympics. He wasn't that important, he hadn't even entered the compititions, but she loved him anyways. Two years later, I was born, but my mother was sick. She was told she couldn't have children anymore, and that broke her. You see, all she wanted was a daughter but...she got me...

"I wanted to be a champion figure skater, like my mother. It made her happy, and all I wanted in life was to make her happy. Two years ago, she was on her death bed." He paused before continuing. "She took my hand, she was just so weak, and she placed her pendant into my hand. She told me that she never wanted me...she told me she wished I had been a girl, and she had tried to kill herself since her only child was a boy."

Matthew covered his mouth in shock "Francis, I'm so sorry." he whispered.

Francis just shook his head "I knew it was coming. I knew she didn't want me to be like this, she even registered me in school as a girl. I was "Paris" until grade eight when my voice started to change. I wish she knew not to force a gender on a child, it wasn't fair... I loved figure skating, I still do, but I want to figure skate as myself, not as Paris. So now, I want to prove to my mother that I can win medals, even if I'm a boy. What about you, mon amour, why are you here?"

Matthew shrugged "My stories not as great as yours, although I do have one. In eleventh grade, my boyfriend wanted to take me to his prom. We had been dating for two years, so I thought I might as well let him meet my family at the same time. It was a horrible idea to bring him home, my dad got angry and stopped talking to me for two years. I was forbid from seeing him, and had no way to contact him. I miss him, but he's with someone else now, after all, we didn't speak for a long time. I never really liked hockey, but I've always been good at it, so I decided playign my dads favourite sport would be the best way to get his love back."

Francis was shocked at what the Canadian had said. Everyone spoke of Canada as if it was a safe place for homosexuals, and then to hear of something like this? It was horrible! "Oh, mon amour" Francis cooed, placing a hand on Matthew's, "I am so very sorry to hear such a thing."

"Hey, it's not that bad, at least I wasn't forced to be a girl for the first thirteen years of my life."

Both boys laughed a bit as Francis slowly started squeezing Matthew's hand. Nothing to noticable, just a light squeeze as his thumb grazed over the back of Matthew's hand. "So tell me, mon amour, do you have any sibblings?" Francis asked. It wasn't something he'd nomally question, but, for some reason the French man felt strangely attracted to the Canadian, and he was compelled to learn more.

"Just a brother, he's a few days shot of a year older than me, but my family has always treated him as if he was the perfect child while I'm just a waste of space...he's a lot louder and more out going than I am, and people seem to notice him a lot more too, but I don't mind much. I'm just happy I got to come here. My brother, he's pretty important. He moved to America and has been living with our uncle since he graduated, he's also a well known Football star..." After noticing how upset AMtthew had seemed, Francis felt horrible. He hadn't expected to gain such a negative reation from such a simple question, but, if Matthew's parents really had paid less attention to him, it made sence he had low confidence.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't like American football." Francis smiled. "Not saying I like hockey much, because I don't, but I think ice sports are always much more beautiful, especailly when someone as beautiful as you is participating in them."

_**Matthew**_

His face was hot, and he could practically feel it getting red. Surely, Francis was mocking him inside his head, Matthew just knew it! Yet, the way Francis spoke was like he actually cared about Matthew, like he actually cared weather or not he was happy. It was a nice change, but, Matthew knew it couldn't last.

Matthew looked down, trying to advert his eyes from Francis' breath taking gaze, and realized the French man's hand has found it's way on top of his. He refused to pull his hand away, but insteadturned it in a way that he could actually hold Francis' hand. It had been years since he had even attempted such a thing with another man. Sure, he had made out with a few girls since he told his parents that he was gay, but more in an attempt to make himself believe he was normal, than anything else. Even by just holding Francis' hand, he could feel the differance between the two genders, and there was no doubt in his mind that Matthew liked this a lot better.

As his mind started to wander, Matthew started to wonder if he was on a date. He was fluent in French, but his translations may have been a bit off. Obviously, Francis wouldn't be calling someone he met a couple of hours ago "My Love" it just didn't seem right, but then again, anything was possible, right?


End file.
